


Return of the Black Diamond

by Lady_Michiru



Series: Gemstones Inc. [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Mercenaries, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Belligerent romance, Coming back from death trope, Guns, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Plot Holes Galore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:43:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Michiru/pseuds/Lady_Michiru
Summary: They're elite mercenaries, perfect soldiers in expensive suits and fancy ties. They're Gemstones, precious stones, the finest of their trade. But even the best men make mistakes, and two years ago they paid for theirs with blood. When the Black Diamond fell, Gemstones lost their sniper, and the Pink Diamond lost part of his soul. But maybe second chances do happen, after all.





	Return of the Black Diamond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chrysiida_Tori](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Chrysiida_Tori).



> Originally written for the Summer Stones 2018 Exchange, and posted [here](https://6tones-fanfics.livejournal.com/11970.html).
> 
> Dear Recipient-san, you said gangs, I read assassins, and I ended up writing about mercs. I have no excuse. I only hope you can find something to like in this. Thanks to the wonderful Kay, who tried to fix my words and had to hear me whine for months about this fic. You’re awesome. I love you. Any remaining mistake is stubbornly mine. Warning for action-movie-esque violence, plot holes the size of Jupiter, and guns, lots of guns.
> 
> [I edited a couple of small details that were making my eyes bleed all the time this was posted anonymously for the exchange ._.]

_Rubies are red_  
_Sapphires are blue_  
_Death is a Black Diamond_  
_But Pink Diamonds are deadly too…_

The job was simple enough that Pink could go about it solo.

He told so to Ruby, back during the mission briefing, when he refused all assistance. A simple extraction. The pick-up site was a run-down church in the middle of a whole block tagged for demolition, courtesy of corrupt politicians and rotten corporations trying to cut down on materials. But anyway. Simple task. Just him, and Sapphire waiting in the jet, on the outskirts of the town. No need for backup.

It was a foreign country, but the humidity was the same as in Japan. Decay smelled the same anywhere, he thought, as he ghosted around deserted streets, keeping to the shadows. The scent of putrefaction, stale piss, and mud filled his nostrils.

Full moon.

It was winter in Japan, but this Brazilian night was a summer one. Sticky, heavy. The half ponytail which binded his blonde-dyed hair helped a bit, but he would be glad when this was over. He wanted back in his climate-controlled Tokyo flat yesterday, far off this god-forsaken backwater town.

He confirmed the location on his wrist device, the church was less than fifty meters south, and he still got no sign of any other human being nearby. He pulled out his gun and checked if the safety was off for the tenth time that night. He was a Diamond, the Pink Diamond. He could afford no mistakes.

The target was some Asada Tetsuya. Japanese expat and key witness in a corruption case linking back to some Japanese megacorp. Juicy target. It was Pink’s job to keep him whole and breathing until they could smuggle him back to Japan. Easy enough. Pink got it, anyone who crossed his path ended up dead, that was the whole plan.

He covered the remaining ground in silence, his gun by his side. The moon seemed bigger that night, somehow. Huge in the foreign sky. It annoyed him. Too much light was detrimental to a solid scape, and he didn’t think Asada was skilful enough to not be followed. Even here.

There was a section of the church’s roof missing, the moonlight giving the abandoned pews a creepy air. The rotten wood of the floor creaked under Pink’s weight, and he cursed inwardly.

Beyond, a human sized shadow stirred and slowly turned around. Pink was about to give Asada crap for waiting with his back turned on the entrance, but the minute he saw his face he lost the ability to form words.

“I didn’t expect them to send _you_ ,” the Face said. But Pink’s brain still wasn’t able to process it.

It matched, that was the worst part. The chiseled features, the velvety voice with a barely-there Shizuoka accent. Jet black hair and perfect skin, almost as fair as Pink’s own.

And the grin. That shit-eating grin that had haunted his dreams for the last two years and counting, turning them into nightmares of blood and pain.

“What’s up, Pink Diamond? You saw a ghost?”

Pink couldn’t move. His jaw was clenched shut and his grip on his gun deadly. He blinked. Tried to focus as well, but he couldn’t even shake his head. Total stupor, and shock, because... 

“You’re dead,” he managed to force out. A faint whisper, cold in the middle of the summer night.

The Black Diamond —living, and breathing, and in front of Pink— let out a soft laugh. So familiar. The sound dived into Pink’s brain, an ongslauth of memories he had fought to repress. Pink fought down an urgent need to throw up.

Black was slowly approaching him, and it felt surreal. He didn’t know what to feel, but a full cocktail of feelings was beginning to seep through the utter shock, anger pulsing preeminently among them.

“Yeah, well… about that….” Black began, but he couldn’t finish the sentence. “Fuck! We’re not alone.”

Asada —no, Matsumura, the Black Diamond— ducked down and took Pink with him a nanosecond before the bullets impacted on the near wall.

Body memory and training kicked in, snapping Pink out of his reverie. His muscles reacted by themselves when he stood up, leveled his gun and put Matsumura behind him. He shot in the general direction of their enemies, forcing them into cover as he backed away to hide behind a decayed archway pillar.

Pink scanned his surroundings, cursing himself for not doing it earlier. Cursing the Black Diamond’s sick game of showing up alive two years after Pink saw him fall to his death.

Cover was sparse. Nothing but rotting benches and rubble, pieces of long-forgotten saints and the vandalized cheap plaster pedestals that had once held them. No way out, unless they neutralized their shooters.

The sound of Black cocking his revolver was familiar, even if eerily so. Part of Pink's brain was still trying to shut down or make him believe this was yet another nightmare.

"Two targets. Semi-auto, nine millimeters," Black whispered into Pink's ear, igniting electric fire all the way down his spine. "Cover me."

Black crouched down without waiting for Pink's acknowledgement, and that was familiar too. It wasn't time for second thoughts. Pink just let himself go, falling into a routine well greased, ingrained in his mind and body.

He hadn’t forgotten Black's unwavering aim, his silent movements. He instinctively knew how and when to fire to give Black space and angle. Black's eyesight had never been perfect, but that didn't matter when he was in combat. Black had an uncanny sense of opportunity, and Pink's support. They were good together, even now, two years later. Pink could still read Black's movements and anticipate his advances. A delicate and macabre dance, punctuated by gunshots and death.

There was a reason why Black stubbornly kept using a revolver. There were still two cartridges left on his barrel when their enemies lay dead among the rubble and the careless stare of broken saints.

"There are more of them. They’ll be here soon," Black said, as he picked the unspent ammo from the floor and loaded it to his gun. Nonchalant, as if he hadn't just killed two guys. "We have to leave."

Pink nodded.

There was only fury where Pink initially had felt daze, but this was hardly the time nor the place. He was extremely good at compartmentalizing.

****

Sapphire had more bad news.

Black and Pink were hiding in the attic of an abandoned warehouse. The structure was pretty much collapsed, but it offered coverage, it had plausible escape routes, and was defensible enough. They couldn't be picky.

"Change of plans, Pinkster," came Sapphire's voice through the comm link, and Pink knew they were screwed. "Extraction point was compromised. I'm sending you the new coordinates through the ciphered channel. Over."

"Compromised my ass," Pink hissed out. Sapphire and he were more than capable of holding off some third-rate rented guns till take-off. With three of them it’d be a ride through the park. "Who came up with this genius idea anyway?"

"Order came from the Big Boss himself. Just play along, will ya?"

"Ruby can bite me."

"Roger that, Pink Diamond." Juri chuckled, but it did little to relax Pink. "Upload complete, you should be getting the info right about... now."

Pink felt the telltale vibration of a received file in his wrist device, and checked it for deciphered integrity. The location of the new extraction point was like a slap on his face. More than a hundred klicks away from the original location. A long trip even if they managed to acquire good wheels.

"10–4, Sapphire," he said, seething. He knew that the situation he was currently in wasn't Sapphire's fault, but he was having trouble controlling his temper nonetheless. "And, by the way," he added before he could stop himself. "Black's back from death."

"That's a pretty awful joke." Sapphire sounded pained. Pink didn't answer. "It _is_ a joke, right?" Silence. "Pink? Do you copy? Pink?!"

"Pink Diamond out," he finally said, and cut the comm.

Black's presence was harder to ignore when Pink wasn't busy talking to Sapphire. Black was crouched in a somewhat far corner of the room, but Pink could feel his stare on him. Although his features were half hidden in the shadows, he could just picture Black's expression. The deprecating smile, the light rise of one of his eyebrows.

"What?" Pink asked, every bit as violently as he intended.

"That was smooth," Black said. Simply. And went back to cleaning his old rifle.

He had retrieved the quasi-vintage weapon from a buried safe in the backyard of the church, a couple of hours ago. At least it was a semi-automatic weapon, but the ritualistic calm with which Black cleaned and readied the thing had always put Pink in a bad mood. The current situation didn’t do much to help with that.

"We can't risk giving Sapphire a heart attack when you suddenly pop up at rendezvous." Pink wanted his voice to sound steadier than it did, but anger made it shake.

"Juri's not weak." Black sighed after a swift chortle, and that was the proverbial straw on the camel’s back.

Pink was onto him immediately, grabbing Black by the front of his shirt in the blink of an eye.

"Don’t use his name. Don’t act as if you have the right to call any of us by name,” Pink said with a growl, danger sharpening every syllable. “You don't get it, do you? He _suffered_. Everybody suffered. You died!” Pink shook Black, who posed zero resistance, much to Pink’s frustration. “They mourned you. They grieved."

"Them?" Black asked in a whisper, his face unreadable again. Unflappable even in the face of Pink’s abnormal violence, and so close to him that Pink could drink in his scent, could taste that subtle voice that made his insides tingle no matter how much he wanted it to stop. “Just them?”

Black stared at him. His lips looked just as tempting as they had the last time Pink had kissed them.

"Two fucking years is a fucking long time." Pink pushed Black away and made him fall to the floor. 

His head was still buzzing as he holstered his gun and began making his way down their hiding spot.

"Move," Pink hissed. "We have a lot of ground to cover."

He chose to ignore Black's evidently heavy breathing when he stood up from the floor and collected his gear. He ignored his fierce stare all the way down, as he followed Pink out of the warehouse.

It was going to be a long night.

****

Black was still as good as Pink at hot-wiring cars. That southern Brazil was plagued with models that predated effective anti-theft systems was a welcome bonus.

Late night was almost at its melting point into early morning as they made their way through the Brazilian highways. Night buses and transport trunks slowed their progress but didn’t stop them. Time seemed to stretch on forever.

Pink refused to drive. He was starting to feel the effects of jet-lag, and the thick exhaustion that adrenaline left in its wake was dragging him under mercilessly. Plus, he didn’t want to.

The silence inside the car was appalling. The malfunctioning radio left them with only the sounds of the road and the night for company. In conjunction with the alternance of passing headlights from the vehicles and the gloominess of the setting moon, it made the world feel unreal.

Pink felt like he was slowly being carried to another place, another time. The past. A short spell of peace between storms. No codenames, no Black and Pink Diamonds. Just Hokuto and Taiga.

He remembered Hokuto's hands all over him, his mouth tracing scorching paths on the skin of his neck, teasing his chest. Taiga's fingers tangled in Hokuto's hair, pushing his obedient head down, down... 

Memories overlapped, spinning, rushing. Blinding pleasure and Hokuto’s heat were replaced by the smell of blood, the ghost of pain. His brain fast-forwarded to the night that ended all nights, his scattered recollections flashing in and out like a pulse.

Kuala Lumpur.

The rain pouring hard.

A trap the Diamonds hadn’t seen coming. Hirose Masato, the mafia underboss they’d underestimated. The rooftop of a high-rise and the sweeping wind.

Pink saw himself there again, his clothes covered in blood, his brain trying to shut down to protect itself from the raging pain.

He remembered Black screaming his name —his real name. Not in bliss, but in terror. Then, Hirose onto Black, their brawl a macabre dance in slow motion. He saw Black losing his balance, saw him and Hirose fall over the ledge, swallowed by the Malaysian night.

Pink’s own scream had made the world bleed.

Then, nothing. Not even pain.

He’d woken up two weeks later, in agony. The sound of Black’s panicked voice still ringing in his ears.

He’d been in Gemstones’ infirmary, back in their headquarters. Jade’s barely contained tears should have tipped him off, as well as Ruby evading his eyes, but everything had been foggy while Citrine tried to make Pink understand that the mark was neutralized, that Hirose had died from the fall. When he told him that Black… that Black was....

“Wake up, Pink!” Black’s voice yanked him back to the present, as did the violent shake of the car. “We have company.”

Pink grabbed the wheel the instant Black let go of it to reach for his weapon on the back of the car. The sudden adrenaline punch shook the stupor out of him, so he was quick to assess their surroundings.

They were on a lonely two-way road, going eastward. Lighting was poor and traffic was nonexistent. No witnesses, no interference. Behind them, and closing in, was a dark-colored SUV. 

Pink ducked down at the new round of bullets being fired at their vehicle, and swore. Light machine gun. These guys weren't newbies.

"Who the fuck are these new friends of yours, Black!?" Pink asked, as he single-handedly twisted the wheel to get the car as far off the fire range as he could.

Black's feet never left the pedals, even if his body was still twisted backwards. He pressed on the gas when the glass of the rear window was blown away.

Pink risked a look at the map in his wrist device. It indicated barely twenty klicks till the extraction point. With a better vehicle they could have covered the ground in less than ten minutes, but the old car they had was pushing past its limits already. Outrunning their chasers wasn't an option.

Black sat back on the driver's seat, but he didn't take over the wheel. Pink could see a long cut on his face, bleeding, when he spared a brief side look at him.

He knew this drill. It wasn't the first time he had to steer some vehicle while Hokuto fired over close range targets. He still loathed it. Not having the complete control was a bitch.

"Hang on!" Pink shouted out, faced with a sharp curve to the right.

Black countered the inertia artlessly, but was still capable of shooting a couple of rounds before ducking inside the car. He was doing a good job keeping their chasers at bay, but as he emptied his second magazine, Pink reckoned they didn't have too much time.

"Come in Sapphire! This is Pink Diamond," Pink shouted onto the comm link. "Sapphire, for fuck's sake, do you copy?!"

Gemstones' standard communication equipment filtered out static, but Pink swore he could hear it as he waited endless seconds for Sapphire to answer.

"Pink Diamond, this is Sapphire. Go ahead."

"Sapphire, we're under fire. Currently closing in on your position, coming in hot. I repeat, we're under enemy fire."

“Acknowledged, Pink.” Sapphire voice was always so calm, no matter the situation. It helped Pink to focus. "Will be ready for your arrival. Sapphire out."

"ETA?" Black asked, completely inside the car to deal with a bunch of really tricky curves. The highway had turned into some kind of one-way mountain road, which lowered their speed but also kept them out of the fire range of the enemy most of the time.

"Five minutes at this pace," Pink yelled over the noise of the chase and the occasional round of bullets. "Sapphire's gonna have a welcome party ready for us."

"Cool." Black’s lips crooked into a familiar half-smile that Pink couldn't help but mimic.

Their chasers were saving their bullets, which meant they were low on ammo. Pink's smile widened, a cruel glint in his eyes. They had underestimated the Diamonds. They weren't going to live long enough to regret it.

"Turn right!" 

Black did so without flinching, even though the direction took them off the road and into a clearing. The car was having trouble with the loose rocks and the low level greenery, but Black just pushed through.

The dark SUV was clearly better suited for these kinds of driving conditions, but they were almost at the rendezvous point. Pink could hear the engine roaring as Black stepped on the gas pedal for dear life.

“Come in Pink Diamond, this is Sapphire.” The comm link came alive, and Pink felt like laughing out loud with relief.

"Sapphire, this is Pink. I could kiss you right now."

“Roger that." Sapphire chuckled audibly enough for them to hear. Black snorted. "Stand by for maneuver Hotel Bravo Alpha, at my mark."

"10–4, Sapphire." Pink checked over Black, who nodded in acknowledgment. "Standing by to your mark."

Pink's hands flew to the wheel and the hand-brake lever, and his eyes searched for Black's. He could hate him later, but right now they needed to be a team. Black looked at him and readied his weapon, bowing his head slightly to signal he was ready.

Black took some pressure off the gas pedal and their chasers caught up with them, flanking their car. Sapphire's voice reached them over the noise of yet another round of bullets from Black’s rifle.

"Initiating maneuver in three, two..."

Pink inhaled. Time stood still.

"One." Sapphire’s voice roared through the comm, and Pink held his breath. "Mark!"

Pink yanked up the brake lever in sync with Black releasing the gas pedal, and the car stopped for a millisecond while Black applied the clutch to change to reverse gear. Pink pushed the gear-stick into position and released the brake lever just as Black revved up the engine hard, and they pulled backwards as fast as the car allowed them.

The driver of the SUV reacted one second too late.

The Diamonds’ car was still going full speed in reverse when the dark-colored SUV exploded, the distance between them barely safe.

Black stopped the car and sat still for a couple of heartbeats. Pink did so too, staring at the dancing flames, half enjoying them and half checking for signs of surviving enemies.

"Targets eliminated," Pink whispered into the comm link, eventually. "We are going your way, Sapphire. Pink Diamond over and out."

****

Black drove the remaining two hundred and some meters to Sapphire’s position, although they could have walked. He took his time, though. Pink was secretly thankful.

The sun was already rising, but Black kept the car's headlights on anyway. They heralded their presence to the lone figure that waited for them, sitting on a rock.

Sapphire had his safety ear muffs hanging around his neck. He was loosely holding a rocket-launcher beside him, and his posture was relaxed as he took a drag of a cigarette. He stood up slowly, a grin taking over his features.

Sapphire put out his smoke before extending his hand to greet Pink with a hand slap and a fist bump. "Do I get my kiss now?"

Pink hugged him, soundly slapping Sapphire's back. "Shut up, or you might."

Exhaustion lowered Pink defenses, as did Sapphire's presence. He was always at his most vulnerable point right after a successful mission, with victory still bubbling in his brain. This was no exception. He could almost let himself give into Sapphire's celebratory mood, pretend there was nothing out of the ordinary about this job.

"Juri." Black's voice burst Pink's bubble in the most effective way.

Pink's expression froze, and he tried to be nonchalant when he backed away from a very much stunned Sapphire. He failed.

"You're—" Sapphire stopped, gaping.

"Not a ghost." Black managed to sound sheepish. Pink resented him for that.

"You fucking asshole!" Sapphire’s swearing matched neither his tone nor his actions. "You motherfucking son of a bitch!"

Sapphire locked Black in a tight squeeze, cursing him and crying at the same time.

"I'm sorry." Pink heard Black whisper, heartfelt, and maybe not just for Sapphire. But he refused to even look in their general direction.

"We might want to leave soon," Pink said, his dry voice effectively interrupting the moment.

It was true, though, so Sapphire let the Black Diamond go with a final bump to his shoulder, and they made their way to the hiding spot of the Gemstones’ jet.

The surreal sensation came back, stronger than before. The three of them boarding the jet and strapping in felt too normal, as if the last two years had never happened. As if there was no death between them.

Pink made it until five minutes after take-off before finally surrendering to a deep sleep, lulled by the muffled voices of Black and Sapphire in the cockpit, and the familiar sounds of the aircraft around him.

****

Some eight hours later they were landing at a secluded air base in the middle of the United States. For reload, Sapphire had said, but Pink was ready to call bullshit on it even before Sapphire invited him for a walk. Black was conveniently taking a nap.

"He's dead to me." Pink didn’t give Sapphire any opening once they were alone. "I saw him die."

"Clearly you didn't!" Sapphire said, making Pink’s blood boil. "We all thought we had lost him. Why can't you be happy that he's alive?"

"So he goes AWOL for two whole years, completely under, without giving us any sign that he's not dead, and I have to happy-dance the minute he shows up? I'm not you, Sapphire!"

"Okay, first: ouch." Sapphire flinched with exaggerated motions, trying to defuse the situation. It didn't work. "And second: I'm sure he has a good reason for disappearing like that."

"Did he share that reason with you?"

"I didn't ask. I don't need him to have reasons. I'm just happy that we were wrong."

"We. Were not. Wrong!" Venom dripped from each of Pink's hissed words. "That guy fooled us."

“So what?" Sapphire was dead serious by now. It wasn't an ordinary occurrence. "He's here now. You can't will him away."

It was true, but Pink didn't want to think about it. He hoped the conversation was over, he didn't want to be having it right now, or ever.

Sapphire, apparently, couldn't be bothered to get a clue. He posed a hand over Pink's shoulder and looked at him right in the eye.

"Would you consider cutting him some slack?" Sapphire asked, pleading. "Maybe it's time for all of us to heal. You’ve been borderline suicidal ever since he—”

“I never tried to kill myself!”

“I might only be dropping you off and picking you up, but I know reckless when I see it, Pink. You were trying to die. Even if it wasn’t you who was pulling the trigger.”

Pink stood still, his face locked in a lifeless grimace.

"Are you done?" Pink's voice was flat. His eyes were lost in some faraway point, well past Sapphire's face.

Sapphire took a step back, dropping his head in defeat.

"Your choice. Wallow in whatever resentment you have going and deny how fucking broken you've been ever since Kuala Lumpur."

Sapphire lifted up his palms in a surrendering gesture when Pink threw him a look filled with daggers.

“By the way, estimated time of departure is in an hour, be sure to be on the jet by then,” Sapphire said as he was retreating. “Big Boss said he wanted a word with you when we arrive home.”

Pink nodded, looking away from Sapphire.

So Ruby wanted a word with him? Cool. Because the Pink Diamond had one score or two to settle with him, too.

****

Pink managed to avoid talking to Black during the long hours of travel after their pit stop. No small feat in an aircraft with only three passengers, and taking into account that Sapphire was as chatty as ever. Pink just tuned him out, and Black too; he had become extremely good at isolating himself from the world in the last two years.

Jade and Citrine were at Gemstones’ headquarters when the jet landed. It wasn’t standard protocol, so Pink assumed their boss had briefed them about the resurrection of their old member. Their eager faces and Jade being on the brink of tears confirmed this theory.

Ruby was there to greet them too. His immaculate black suit and crisp white shirt felt like a mockery of Pink's own rumpled clothes and overall disheveled condition. Pink’s resentment ran deeper than that, though.

Naturally, Jade broke down and cried as soon as the Black Diamond emerged from the jet. Jade was the youngest Gemstone and always tried to act as tough as his tall and strong physique made him look, but he was a softie at heart. He covered his sobs by soundly slapping Black’s back while he held him.

And then there was Citrine.

Their field doctor took one appreciative look at Pink with a raised eyebrow and seemed to understand everything. Bastard.

Citrine elbowed Ruby and pointed his head in Pink's direction. Then he broke into a charming smile and joined the rest of the team, busy with pestering Black. And crying.

Pink just followed Ruby to his office.

"Taiga." Ruby greeted him, inviting him to take a seat across his desk. Taiga declined.

"You look awfully calm for a guy whose intended target turned out to be a deceased Gemstones ex-agent, Ruby." Taiga's words were caustic.

"We're off duty, you can call me by name," Jesse said, smiling. 

Taiga didn't fall for it.

"You knew." The accusatory words were daggers out of Taiga’s mouth.

"I'd be an awful leader if I hadn't known, don't you think?" Jesse didn’t even flinch.

"Was this your psychotic idea of a prank? I should kill you right now, you son of a—"

"Would you really have gone if I'd told you?" Jesse cut in, his voice suddenly harsh.

"You could have sent Jade!"

"Shin wouldn't have been able to pull off the mission alone and you know it, he's too green.” Jesse accompanied his pun with a weird grimace that was supposed to be funny. “I needed a Diamond there."

It made sense, actually. Taiga had to concede Jesse that at least, even if it deflated him. He was running on pure anger, any drop on his seething level made a dent.

"So you knew he was alive all this time?" Taiga asked, letting himself fall into the chair he had rejected earlier, and massaging his temples with his index and thumb.

"We were in contact. For intel and supplies."

Taiga didn't know his heart could still get broken. "And now he's back, just like that?"

"Nothing is ever so simple."

"Of course." Taiga sighed.

There was a long pause. Taiga’s dizzied brain lost track of time and space. He needed a good night's sleep, and maybe twenty tequila shots.

What Jesse provided, though, was a heavy-looking manila folder.

“What's that?” Taiga asked, snapped back to reality by the sound of the folder hitting the table.

“Here’s everything you need to know that Hokuto won't tell you,” Jesse said, with brows furrowed, like he still wasn’t totally convinced that handing the information to Taiga was a good idea. 

Taiga looked at the folder. At the front, instead of the regular numeric codes they used to index information files, was somebody’s last name written in western characters.

“Who’s Yamamura?”

“He _was_ a very influential gang leader. He was also Hokuto’s first extermination job.” Jesse sounded tired, too. “He’s related with the Hirose case.”

Just hearing Hirose’s name turned Taiga’s stomach into lead. He took the folder and flicked through some of the many documents it held to mask his anxiety. He wasn’t able to make sense of any of them.

“Hirose was part of Yamamura’s operation,” Jesse said, answering Taiga’s unspoken question. “He was well hidden, all of his minions were.”

“You’re speaking in past tense again.”

“There has been some _developments_.” Jesse smirked bitterly at that, but didn’t go into details. “It’s all in the file.”

“Do some of these _developments_ tie back to the Brazil ruse?” 

“There’s something you have to understand, Taiga,” Jesse said, instead of answering the question. “Yamamura was a sneaky son of a bitch. We thought we had his whole machinery neutralized, but he had an ace up his sleeve.”

“A post-mortem back-up plan?”

“A son,” Jesse said, but it wasn’t a correction. He looked up, and into Taiga’s eyes. “Read those reports. I’m sure you’ll know what to do.”

****

Sleep just wasn't in the cards for Taiga that night.

In all honesty, he doubted he could have gotten any rest even without Jesse's file fucking up with his mind. It felt good having something to put the blame on, though.

He knew Hokuto would still be awake. Changing time-zones used to mess up his sleeping schedule. After all, it was midday somewhere in southern Brazil.

He had no time to try to bypass the security of Gemstones’ safe-house, so he just pressed the intercom button and hoped for the best. Hokuto buzzed him in after a short wait that felt eternal.

Hokuto had showered and his hair was still wet and dripping over his fresh clothes. Standard Gemstones' dark suit and white shirt, unbuttoned to tantalizingly display his collarbones. No tie.

The wave of desire was borderline physical, Taiga could almost feel the floor giving in under his feet.

_Focus._

"I didn't think you'd come here." Hokuto's soft voice caressed Taiga's senses, stirring a long-forgotten longing inside him.

Two years was such a long time.

_Focus._

"I wasn't going to." Taiga cleared his throat in a desperate attempt to regain control. "But then Jesse gave me this."

Taiga dropped the folder onto the coffee table and Hokuto cursed, but he sounded defeated rather than belligerent.

"You're going after Yamamura's son," Taiga said.

Hokuto sat down on the nearby sofa. He had a magnificent way of just filling the whole space, opening his arms and posing them over the backrest. He tilted his head backwards and closed his eyes. Taiga remained standing, staring at him.

"You're not even gonna deny it?" Taiga asked, frustration choking him.

"What would be the point?" Hokuto shifted his position so he could look at Taiga. "I can't convince you that you're wrong."

Pragmatism was so essentially Hokuto. It was frustrating as hell.

"Because I’m not.” Taiga’s accusatory tone was relentless.

"I’m trying to protect you. All of you. Gemstones has no business paying for my screw-ups, and neither do you. Not after Kuala Lumpur, not after you almost..." Hokuto didn't finish the sentence.

Taiga balled his hands into fists. He was itching to touch Hokuto for a thousand conflicting reasons at the same time. He wanted to slap him, punch him in the face, shake him until he started making sense. At the same time he craved Hokuto’s warmth, yearned to feel his skin and the life beating underneath, to revel in the fact that he was back.

"And your solution is to give them every chance to satisfy their vengeance?" Taiga said instead. “I thought you were supposed to be brilliant.”

"Hirose almost killed you, Kyomoto!" The form of address was harsh, but Hokuto's voice was broken. "Back then, in that goddamned high-rise. And it was my fault. I was the one they wanted to settle scores with. You were just convenient."

"Convenient?" Taiga said it like it was a foul word.

"Gangsters aren't famous for wanting to minimize suffering, physical or otherwise." Hokuto was trying to sound bland, but there was too much emotion beneath.

“I was a threat, too.” Some of it was Taiga trying to reassure Hokuto, but mostly it was his pride speaking.

“He _knew_ about us, okay? It was a set-up. Hirose knew.”

Shocked into silence, Taiga blinked, remembering.

_The tang of blood. The rain in the air. Malaysia's night all around them. And Hokuto screaming Taiga's name._

They’d wanted the Black Diamond dead. Him and everyone he held dear. And Taiga had been there, just one bullet away from dying right in front of Hokuto. It had been convenient, after all.

"You tackled Hirose." Realization hit Taiga hard. He’d always thought it had been the other way around. "You wanted to make him fall, even if you fell too."

Hokuto had been injured, too weak to win in hand-to-hand combat with Hirose; and out of ammo because of his stupid, stubborn fixation with revolvers.

"You were..." _protecting me_. Taiga couldn't say it out loud.

"I survived to clean up my mess. I won’t endanger you anymore, any of you."

Taiga eyed the file Jesse had compiled, full of reports, transcriptions, lengthy documents, and some pictures. Evidence of Hokuto single-handedly obliterating all that remained of Yamamura's former network during the last two years, leaving no underboss alive to avenge their lord.

Except for Yamamura's bastard son, buried so deeply in the entrails of his father’s shadows and machinations Jesse didn’t find him until it was too late.

“You’re not gonna deal with this by yourself.” Taiga crouched in front of Hokuto, forcing him to stop avoiding his eyes.

“Not your fight, Kyomoto.” Hokuto was trying to be firm, but it wasn't working. It always had been one of his greatest faults —he was transparent, his emotions laid bare for anyone who cared to read them.

“That’s not for you to decide.” Taiga found it difficult to talk over the roar of his heartbeat. He was supposed to be mad, he was supposed to be arguing a point. Instead, he found himself leaning forward and cupping Hokuto's cheek with his hand. “I won’t let you fight alone.”

"Don't you get it?" Brutal desperation took over Hokuto, but he didn't move away from Taiga's caress. "It ends with me! He doesn't have your name, none of his informers could dig too deep into Gemstones before I took them out. Even if I fail, you get to live!"

"Would you please stop being an idiot for a second and try to understand? Without you, I’m not really alive!"

Hokuto let out a defeated grunt, his eyes flashing fire seconds before he lunged at Taiga. He took Taiga's lips for assault and kissed him deeply, as Taiga climbed into Hokuto’s lap.

Taiga's body was on fire. He didn't know if he was hard before the first rock of Hokuto's hips against his or if he was instantly aroused by the movement, but it didn't matter. He groaned loudly, falling out of their kiss and latching his lips to Hokuto's neck. He bit down, Hokuto's soft moan fueling his lust.

After two years, Taiga had no patience for buttons, so he undid a few on his shirt then took it off like he would a T-shirt. Hokuto's shirt got the same treatment; four hands and twenty clumsy, feverish fingers trying to relieve him of the garment as fast as possible. But Taiga didn’t stop there.

He slipped down, between Hokuto’s spread legs and onto the floor, taking with him Hokuto’s pants and boxers to remove them in just a couple of quick movements. Then he looked up. 

It was something he’d never admit, but he’d been dreaming about this ever since he stopped hurting enough to miss it. The heady scent of Hokuto intoxicating him and Hokuto’s fingers tangled in his hair, while the thumb of Hokuto’s free hand tugged on his lower lip, forcing Taiga’s mouth open.

“Taiga.” Hokuto said, and Taiga felt every cell of his body sizzle with the familiar heat of his name in Hokuto's pleading whisper.

“Make me,” he said, without moving even an inch forward, defiant even while on his knees, as he guided Hokuto’s hand to the back of his head. He knew Hokuto couldn’t resist a challenge.

It'd been so long, but somehow Taiga could still manage to keep up with Hokuto's thickness, his brisk thrusts into Taiga's mouth, and his fingers threading into his now long hair, almost pulling. He directed Taiga's movements without evident apprehension, just like Taiga wanted him to do.

The string of slurred curses, entwined with Hokuto's soft gasps and the haphazard encouragements, were making a number on Taiga too. He fought the urge to touch himself with every bit of self-control he had. Instead, he forced one his hands up to softly touch Hokuto's hand. Hokuto stopped moving immediately, a whine escaping from his lips without his permission.

As much as blowing Hokuto to completion and have him finish in his mouth was an appealing idea, Taiga wanted something else.

He stood up up and made quick work of his pants and underwear, dragging everything down and out of the way in one go. When he was done, he was somewhat puzzled to find Hokuto bent forward, searching the pockets of his own pants for something.

“Here,” Hokuto said, pressing two small foil sachets into Taiga’s hand. His cheeks were pink and his pupils wide with arousal, and Taiga got caught in them for a long time before lowering his eyes at his own hand.

He looked at the items he was holding and tried not to snort. "Why are you carrying around lube and condoms?"

"Yugo's idea of necessities."

Taiga had always thought the pack Yugo gave to people staying at their safe-house consisted of a toothbrush and other toiletries. Maybe a razor. But he had to recognize Yugo’s thoughtfulness, even if he’d never tell him he’d taken advantage of it.

The bed was a couple of steps away, and Taiga contemplated moving things to it, but one look at Hokuto's twitching cock made him realize it was impossible; that the distance and the time it required were just too much. With a resigned sigh, Taiga pushed Hokuto till his back was pressed to the seat of the sofa before he sat down, straddling him.

"I want you inside me," Hokuto said, managing to sound raspy and bossy at the same time.

Taiga raised both of his eyebrows, scandalized. "You let me believe you were dead for two years. Two whole years." He buried his hands in Hokuto's hair and pulled, forcing Hokuto's head back and eliciting a deep moan from him. "You don't get to ask for anything."

There was something insolent in Hokuto's expression as he stared back at Taiga, a stubbornness he had missed desperately, that he thought he had lost forever. Hokuto's challenging attitude riled Taiga up, a fire that he wanted to extinguish and to be consumed by at once. And then Hokuto threw at him an arrogant lopsided grin that Taiga just needed to kiss off that perfect, annoying face. So he did.

Urgency turned their kiss messy almost immediately, and Taiga bit Hokuto's lower lip before coming up for air. 

"I'm still mad at you," Taiga said, panting, as he pressed the lube and the condom back into Hokuto's hand. "So hurry up."

Hokuto still knew him like the back of his hand, and Taiga gave into the almost forgotten bliss of Hokuto's fingers inside him, opening him up. Nevertheless, he tried to rein in his delight, biting Hokuto's shoulder to keep himself from making any sound, just to antagonize him. He knew how much Hokuto hated when he couldn't get Taiga to voice his pleasure.

It didn't last. Hokuto remembered exactly how to touch him —how deep, how hard— to make him lose control. He had Taiga crying out in no time, on the verge of begging, and cursing Hokuto's name with every breath he managed to draw. Then he stopped, and Taiga bit down hard on his own fist not to give Hokuto the satisfaction of whining as he felt him pulling his fingers out.

There was a pause, and Hokuto's hard stare made Taiga look at his eyes. The dash of hesitation he saw in them threw him off. 

"Do we need to use a condom?" Hokuto asked, trying to look detached, but the way he visibly had to force the words out gave him away.

 _Why would we?_ The thought died, unspoken, when Taiga understood the real meaning of the question.

"You're really an idiot if you have to ask."

"I was dead. You had the right to look for some—"

"Shut up." Taiga was torn between feeling hurt and outraged. Then, a sudden doubt overrode both of those. "Did you look for someone else?"

Two years was, after all, a long, long time.

"I was dead," Hokuto said, looking straight at Taiga's collarbones. He didn’t offer any further explanation, but he didn’t need to.

This time, when Taiga took Hokuto's lips he did it slowly, tasting him as if he had all the time in the world. He let the fire slowly crawl back into his veins, his body softly rocking into a frenzy again. He let his hands roam down Hokuto's chest and into his lower abdomen, over hard muscle, taut with lust, his tongue teasing Hokuto's as he took his length in his fist.

Taiga rose on his knees, guiding Hokuto to his entrance. "Just fuck me."

Hokuto complied, thrusting his hips up as Taiga sat down, burying himself deep inside Taiga's body. Taiga didn't even try to keep quiet.

He knew it was a cliché, but it felt like coming home. The way Hokuto moved and shifted, and tried until the angle was right, until every thrust had him brushing against the right spot. The way he made Taiga scream in unabashed fervor, how he made him sob with want. It made Taiga feel whole again.

"Gonna come." The change in Hokuto's rhythm gave him away before he spoke.

"Go ahead." Taiga pulled one hand off Hokuto's shoulder and dragged it down to wrap it around himself.

"You?" Hokuto asked, trying to stop and giving up when Taiga just kept moving.

"Close." So, so close. "Wanna feel you first. Come inside me. Please."

Hokuto came with an undignified wail, holding Taiga still and pressing down on his waist to bury into him as deep as he could. Taiga felt him twitch inside, felt the warmth of his release coating his insides and Hokuto's sated eyes on his, watching him with intent. Just a few more strokes and Taiga came too, spurts of white marking Hokuto's abs and some of the stuff even reaching Hokuto’s chest.

There were no words spoken afterward, just Hokuto holding him, his hands petting Taiga's long hair for endless minutes. Taiga thought he heard him cry, but he said nothing. His own eyes weren’t completely dry either.

****

A budding headache welcomed Taiga into the world the next day. The pale sun rays filtering through the window told him it was late morning, and his stomach rumbled, pretty much confirming it. The side of the bed Hokuto had slept on was rumpled but cold, and Taiga was alone. He was also handcuffed to the headboard.

Rolling his eyes at Hokuto’s lack of subtlety, Taiga tried to piece together his current situation. First, the headache was clearly chemical, so Hokuto had likely used a mild sedative on him to sneak out of the bed and the apartment without Taiga noticing. The handcuffs were an obvious contingency plan, so it had to be a very mild sedative.

Second, it was impossible that Hokuto hadn’t slept; even his pigheaded self needed rest after twenty-something hours of transoceanic travel and fucking Taiga within an inch of his life last night. That, along with the mild strength of the chemical he’d been under, led Taiga to think Hokuto had left just two to three hours before.

And third, Hokuto had taken his stupid revolver with him.

The alarm of the safe-house went off, and Taiga heard Juri cursing as he dealt with the codes to shut off the damn thing.

“Well, that’s a sight for sore eyes,” Juri said, contemplating Taiga’s naked torso when he finally got beside the bed.

Taiga snorted. “This sight will punch your eyes sore if you don’t get me out of these right now.”

“Cranky. Even though you’re _glowing_.” Juri began to work on the lock of the handcuffs. “You guys made up?”

“He drugged me and handcuffed me to the bed. Read the air, please.”

“That could mean a lot of things, Kyomo,” Juri said, before he managed to force the lock into submission and released Taiga. “But I kinda feel it wasn’t the good kind of drugs and handcuffs scenario.”

“No, but it doesn’t matter.” Taiga massaged his wrists, sore because of the metal grip. “It was in the plan.”

“Which is?”

“Hokuto being an asshole.”

“Solid plan.” Juri grabbed a small gym bag he’d brought along and tossed it onto the bed, next to Taiga. “Fresh clothes, as you asked.”

“Thanks, Sapphire.”

“We’re on a mission now?” Juri was only half joking, and Taiga knew he was being cryptic, but he couldn’t help it.

Once he’d put on clean underwear he stood up to fetch his phone, discarded along with his pants the night before. He turned it on and continued to dress as it booted. Juri watched him, leaning on the kitchen counter, with a patient smile on his face.

“Black’s gone solo to kill the bastard son of the guy whose operation he wiped out while he was pretending to be dead. Says it’s to protect Gemstones. I say he has a deathwish.”

“And you’re casually checking your mail on your phone while he’s at it.”

Hopping on one foot as he put on a sock on the other, Taiga made his way to the kitchen counter. He’d pulled up a map in his phone and showed the display to Juri. There was a red dot making its way at a slow pace through the streets of Chiyoda.

Completely dressed now, Taiga holstered his gun, pocketing the extra ammunition Juri had included in the bag at his request.

“He’s a stubborn son of a bitch, so I put a tracker on his revolver holster.” At night, after showering, and more or less at the same time Hokuto had drugged him, Taiga supposed. “If Black wants to be killed, I got dibs.”

****

"So you only knew that there was a Yamamura Jr. somewhere?" Jade's voice came through the comm link, and Pink wondered again why Jade seemed to be unable to keep from idle chatting when the damn thing was switched on.

"Yup, Ruby had no intel on the target, Black kept everything he found out in Brazil to himself." Sapphire's voice explained, patiently. 

Moving through the air ducts was tricky, but Taiga allowed himself a second to stop and roll his eyes at Sapphire’s soft spot for Jade. Then he resumed crawling until he reached a grid panel under him that showed him a room full of screens and computers.

"This is the Pink Diamond, I'm above the security room." Pink's voice was barely more than a subvocalization. 

Sapphire took over immediately. "Ruby just gave us the shut off codes. I'm transferring them to your device now."

Pink made quick work of the remaining two guards in the room and disabled the panic alarms for the entire corporative building. Black had gone in hot, moving quickly and avoiding detection so far, but Pink knew luck could be a bitch. He’d rather have some collateral.

They'd only found out the name of Yamamura's unrecognized son, Ishikura Satoru, when Black had entered the corporate building. It made sense, and Pink wondered if they should have known earlier. A year before, Ishikura had been appointed as CEO of a company distantly related to Yamamura's old holdings. It was a small company, and a legit one to boot, but Pink thought it was just a downpayment, that the final clause for Ishikura to inherit all of his father's dirty money and his former empire was to get rid of the guy who had killed him.

"Moving onto the Prime Target now," Pink said, changing the magazine of his weapon. “Be ready.”

"You be careful, Pinkster." Sapphire sounded concerned, but Pink didn't have time to reassure him. He breathed in deep and got out of the room, sneaking his way to a service door.

Two floors up through the service stairs and Pink arrived to the executive level of the building, just in time to catch up with the Black Diamond.

The sloppy bastard's back was facing Pink, and four armed guards were blocking his way forward, a shootout just about to begin. Black had always suck at infiltration, that's why he was a sniper.

The silencer of Pink's semi-automatic muffled the sound of the first two shots, both of them lethal. Black reacted in perfect synchrony, a high kick connecting to the jaw of the nearest goon and making him fall to the floor. A revolver shot reverberated through the hallway and the guard still standing dropped dead, with a bullet between his eyes.

"Perfect. Now the entire floor knows you're here." Pink walked toward Black at a slow pace, giving him plenty of time to dispatch the last remaining guard, that was still on the floor.

Another revolver discharge exploded and echoed away.

Indignation flared up in Black's eyes as he stood up. "You followed me."

"I tracked you." Pink corrected, without any trace of humor in his voice. "You drugged me. I think we're even."

"Are you out of your fucking mind? You're gonna get killed!"

"No, that's _your_ plan, you shithead! Mine's to get you out of here alive."

Black was pissed enough to point his gun at him, but Pink couldn't care less. If Black's antics were about him being killed, he wouldn't be the one who pulled the trigger. The barrel of the revolver delved into Pink's chest but he still pressed closer, until Black lowered the gun in defeat.

“All this was borrowed time, you know?” It wasn’t like Hokuto to be this tender; it threw Pink off for a second before he remembered Black was here to die, for real this time. 

Black's hands, clad in leather cut-off gloves, softly cupped Pink’s cheeks and his thumbs caressed Pink's sharp cheekbones. The soft touch of the Black Diamond was electric on Pink's skin.

“You’re not dying today.” Pink felt his eyes scorch, and lowered his voice to a growl to keep his feelings at bay. “I’m not done with you.”

It was unprofessional and foolish, but Pink kissed Black anyway, drowning his frustration in the sweetness of Black's pliant lips. The smell of soap and fresh sweat, Black's warmth under Pink’s wandering hands, and Black's faint welcoming gasps overwhelmed Pink's senses. As result, both of them were oblivious to the approaching steps until they were almost upon them.

Pink startled when he heard someone's dark chuckle behind him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the Stranger said when Pink turned to face him. "I just need to know which one of you is Matsumura Hokuto, so I know who I have to kill first."

"Ishikura Satoru, I presume," Black said.

"Drop your weapons, kids. You're outnumbered."

There were at least half a dozen guards in Ishikura's security detail, and all their weapons were pointed at them. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles, but wore no visible armour. Ishikura himself stood at the center, unarmed. He was an unremarkable middle aged man, the expensive-looking tailored suit looked like a costume on him. This was the potential heir to Japan's largest network of organized crime and corruption —crumbling down, but still salvageable. And he craved it, it was plain to see.

"No Matsumuras here," Pink said. His attitude was defiant, but he dropped his gun and so did Black. "Just two Diamonds."

Ishikura huffed. "It's nothing personal, you know? I just need proof that Matsumura is really dead this time to unfreeze the assets of my late _father_." He spat the word like something foul-tasting.

No love lost there, Pink reckoned. If they were lucky, the Black Diamond's theory was right and the hunt for Black's head because of the hit on Yamamura would end there. No avenging fanatics left, just a scorned son looking for power and his army of rented guns. No loyalties left.

"Any last words?" Ishikura said, a self-indulgent smile spreading on his face. "I’ve always wanted to say that."

"Actually, yeah." Pink looked at Black, who looked back at him searching for a cue or a escape plan. "Magic glasses. Back pocket," Pink said, hoping Black got it, then yelled, "Jade! Now!"

Sixteen stories down, Jade, with his face dirty from dusty pipes and electric panel boards, broke into a smile like fireworks. He'd been waiting for Pink's command and making grossed out faces for himself while he listened through the still open channel.

With long-practiced ease, he detonated a series of small explosive charges he had strategically placed, and the whole building was left without electric power.

"I love my job!" Jade shouted into the comm link, already on his way to the rendezvous point.

Back in the executive level, the darkness was absolute. Jade had blown up even the access to the emergency power, leaving only some fluorescent signs visible above the escape doors, which weren’t bright enough to be useful.

Pink had geared up in the blink of an eye. The _magic lenses_ —a compact version of a night vision device developed by the technical branch of the Agency— gave him the upper hand in the confusion following the blackout. Black put on his, which he’d found tucked into his back pocket, put there by Pink when they had kissed. Then he crouched down to pick up his revolver.

The hallway wasn't an ideal combat zone, too narrow for almost ten people and long ranged weapons firing at random. Pink disarmed two of the guards and let them fall unconscious to the floor before he even shot his first round. He lost sight of Ishikura soon after, while he was looking for cover.

The unmistakable sound of a revolver being fired gave him a relative positioning of the Black Diamond, even if he was long out of Pink's visual range. He counted three shots, then silence. Black was quick to reload, and Pink heard a fourth and a fifth round being fired soon after. Reassured, he advanced onto one of the remaining guards.

Pink got visuals on their last enemy, waiting around the corner of a corridor. The shooting angle made difficult for Pink to get at him without exposing himself, so he got as close as he could without giving up his cover, then pointed a flashlight at his face, temporarily blinding him. Even muffled by the silencer, Pink's shot sounded like a thunder in the silence of the hallway.

Too much silence.

A short inspection of the bodies let Pink know that Ishikura was still on the loose. But Black wasn't caught in a gunfire with him, Pink would've heard that.

Something tugged at Pink's stomach, and he followed his gut feeling into one of the offices that opened into the hallway. The electrical blackout had messed with the darkening system of the windows, but they still let through a bit of light from the high noon sun. Not too bright to be blinding, but enough to see Ishikura's silhouette behind a huge oak desk, holding Black in front of him like a shield, a revolver pointed to Black's head.

"How could you open the door?" Pink asked, anxiety making him babble. "You shouldn't have. No electricity, you shouldn't have."

"I know how to get into my own office." Ishikura wasn't as tall as Black, and his grip wasn't crippling, but Black wasn't even trying to break free. "It's endgame, pretty boy." 

"Just do it," Black said. Pink couldn't figure out who was he speaking to, Ishikura or him. "Finish this."

"Hokuto, fight!" It slipped from Pink's lips, a useless plea in a split second of weakness. Blood froze in his veins when he realized the mistake he'd made.

Ishikura's eyes lit up with manic laughter, and he cocked the revolver, getting ready to fire. Pink surged forward, trying to push the desk toward Ishikura or jump over it when it didn't budge. But there was no time.

Pink heard a gun being shot, and screamed, his vision getting blurry and his stomach churning at the coppery smell of blood that permeated the air. Hokuto's blood.

The world was back into slow motion, and Taiga wasn't in control of his body or his mind anymore. He heard Hokuto's body hit the floor with a thump, and didn't think too much of Ishikura also falling down. He was over Ishikura a split second afterwards, emptying his magazine on his lifeless body. Bitter tears raged down Taiga's face when the slide locked back, signaling he was out of ammo.

Gravity pulled hard at Taiga's legs and he fell on his knees, the pool of Ishikura's blood almost reaching his clothes. He let his pistol drop to the floor. He was so out of it he didn't react when he felt a hand over his shoulder.

"Pink." Ruby's voice shook him out of the trance.

"You're supposed to be at the headquarters," Pink said, maybe a bit idiotically, but the shock was slow to dissipate.

"But Rubies are Red Diamonds." Ruby wiggled his eyebrows and opened his mouth, like he always did when celebrating his own jokes. "I belong in the field."

It wasn't until Ruby began shaking his arms in a weird mockery of a dance that Pink noticed the smoking gun in his hand. Then Black stirred, moaning as he pressed on his shoulder where his white shirt was soaked in blood. By then Pink was already piecing the facts together, so he didn't freak out too much at the sight. But as the shock wore off, he quickly went from devastated to pissed off.

"You shot me," Black said, his accusatory stare fixed on Ruby.

"In a non-vital point!" Ruby held up his hands in surrender, then he kept dancing by pushing them up and down.

How the hell a guy like Ruby had ended up as the head of a Mercenary force, Pink would never understand.

“You son of a bitch!” Pink finally snapped, and punched Black on his injured shoulder, making him howl in pain.

“Hey I can still die from blood loss!”

“And you’d deserve it, you suicidal motherless jerk!”

“We have to get out of here.” Ruby interrupted them, suddenly all business, checking the hallway for any reinforcements of the security force that might still come after them. “You can continue with the foreplay when we get home.”

“Gross!” Jade’s whine through the comm link did startle Pink. With emotions running so high, he had all but forgotten the link was still open.

“Jade, the boss can ship whomever the boss wants to,” Sapphire said. “Also, I’m ready and waiting for all of you, so drag your asses here ASAP.”

“Tell Citrine to ready the infirmary, we have a Diamond down.”

“Yeah, because you fucking shot me, Ruby.” Black all but barked as Ruby helped him get back on his feet.

“Come in Gemstones, this is Citrine.”

“We have a Diamond down, Yellow,” Sapphire said. “Ruby shot him.”

“Will you quit it?” Ruby didn’t even have the decency to sound disturbed. “I didn’t have a clean shot at that shortie Pink turned into a strainer! And it’s a non-vital point!”

“If you wanted non-vital you should have gone for his head,” Pink said. “He hardly uses it anyway.”

“I’ll have something ready for that _burn_ ,” Citrine said. “Also, keep pressing on the wound to minimize the bleeding, but not so much it cuts the blood flow to the arm.”

The trio made its way down the building as swiftly as they could, avoiding the armed guards that still patrolled the lower levels. Sapphire was waiting for them with the engine running, Jade already riding shotgun.

Nobody followed them as they made their way home.

\----

_Epilogue:_  
Rise of the Black Diamond

Hokuto sat on the infirmary bed, looking bored. Yugo had refused to discharge him after giving him stitches, arguing that his shoulder wound wasn’t the only thing wrong with him. Two years of bad eating and several degrees of dehydration needed attention too, he’d said before hooking Hokuto to an IV drip and let him to rot there.

Taiga sauntered in, finally well fed and rested, and in a much better mental state. He was still pissed, but at least he was willing to talk about it. Or to make Hokuto listen.

There was a chair beside Hokuto’s bed, but Taiga chose to sit on the mattress. Closer. Hokuto’s hand was cold when he took it.

“You wanted to die.” There was no other way to start the conversation, Taiga knew it. He’d been rehearsing it in his head every second they’d been back from Ishikura’s mission.

Hokuto avoided Taiga’s eyes, but he didn’t let go of his hand. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

“I just wanted it to end,” he said. His fluffy hair fell forward, obscuring his expression, and it took all of Taiga’s will not to brush it back with his hand. “I spent all my time away dreading that exact same situation, you know? You and one of Yamamura’s goons. And when I finally got there, death wasn’t such a bad idea if it meant you’d be safe.”

“If you die because of it, I don’t want it. All this time without you I was safe, but I don’t think I was alive.” Juri’s words came back to Taiga, the way he had accused him of being reckless on purpose. He’d been right. “I didn’t join Gemstones to have someone die for me, Hokuto. Least of all you.”

“I can’t promise I won’t do it again.”

“You took away my right to decide. If there’s ever a next time, I won’t let Jesse shoot you, I’ll do it.”

Hokuto chuckled, a soft raspy noise that melted Taiga’s insides and made him quiver.

“Noted,” Hokuto said, not as wholeheartedly as Taiga would have liked, but enough for the moment.

There was no such thing as silence in Gemstone’s infirmary, loud beeps and the hum of medical machinery filled every whiff of the overly sanitized air. But there were no words between them for long minutes. Finally, Taiga gave in and caressed Hokuto’s hair.

“What about…?” Hokuto asked, leaning into Taiga’s palm and almost purring.

Blood began pulsing fast in Taiga’s veins, but with so much water under the bridge, he chose to err in the side of caution.

“Let’s take things slowly,” Taiga said. Then he leaned forward and kissed Hokuto’s forehead. It was still a marvel, the feeling of life beating under Hokuto's warm skin. "It's still... a lot to process."

Hokuto closed his eyes. He was slow when he moved, giving Taiga every chance to back away before he kissed him. Gently, making no attempt to deepen it or turn it into something else.

“I'll wait as long as you need,” Hokuto said, and Taiga felt a shy smile pressed against his lips.

They had plenty of time.


End file.
